A family with no blood
by Melancholy's Sunshine
Summary: There is little known about Rex's family. But we know that they were all science lovers. Rex doesn't seem to be. And how does Van Kleiss fit in to his past? It's something that no one wants to talk about. But it's remembered, by Van Kleiss.
1. Chapter 1

Has it been so long? T he child that I witnessed being born forget me? The one I helped delivered? The one that used to play soccer. The one ignored by his brother. The one that used to follow him around.

"Kleiss?" said a small voice. He turned. He and the child were young to the project. He was newly transferred. Well, he was newer than most. The child was often kept in his room studying, so he wouldn't get in the way. But bright eyes, imaginative eyes, always found a way to the window to go explore.

"Shouldn't you be in your room?" he asked getting on one knee so he was the child's height. He looked at him.

"Hermano trabaja ahí adentro," he said softly.

"I'm sorry I don't speak Spanish," he said sheepishly. The child looked at him.

"And you probably don't speak English," he said to himself. He was a strange child. Strange for the lab. He was a normal child. Sports lover. Not really interested in the science field. He started to walk away.

"My brother says you're a third rate lab hack."

Kleiss stopped and turned around.

"You don't look too bad to me," he said innocently. Kleiss walked up to him. His eyes showed no fear.

"How old are you…"

"I'm Rex. Rex Salazar. And I'm eight. I turn nine soon though."

"Really? I didn't know that. Or that you spoke English."

"No one knows really. I self taught myself English, French and Chinese."

Kleiss couldn't help but let out a shocked look on his face.

"You don't believe me. Don't worry. No one does. I'm not good with science. It changes too much. It never stays the same. I can't stand it when things aren't constant," he complained, "That's why I love soccer! Can we play sometime?"

"I'm busy with work," he said reluctantly. Rex looked at him.

"Please?" he said with endearing eyes.

"After I'm done with my work."

He walked down the hall. Rex followed.

"Weren't you a doctor before you were a scientist?" Rex asked.

"Yes."

"Didn't you help deliver babies?"

"Only once. It was an awkward situation."

"Was it at St. Joseph's almost nine years ago?" he asked. Kleiss turned and looked at him. That was part of his private life. He knew he didn't tell anyone. True he was a doctor, that was why he was sent, and yes he did help once deliver a child, but only because it was an emergency, but to know that was almost nine years ago?

"Are you a hacker?" he asked with a nervous laugh. Rex looked at him.

"You aren't the only one with an awkward story from nine years ago," he said softly.

"But you're not nine yet," he countered playfully. Rex looked at the ground. Kleiss wasn't good with kids…or people, but he could tell that the kid wanted to tell him something. But felt like he couldn't. Like the thing he wanted to say was taboo.

"I was an unexpected child. They didn't know mom was pregnant until she went into labor with me. If she wasn't near St. Joseph's hospital, I would've died. I was coming out the wrong way."

It took a moment. Kleiss thought back. The woman he helped was Latino. So was the father who was rushing in. A son, about ten walked in behind, without a care. The baby was conceived there. He was the only one who was available to help. It was a very busy day. The baby was extremely small. He could easily fit in one of Kleiss's hands. A small baby gripping his thumb. A strong grip. A loud cry. But he remembered how it came out.

"HI-YAAAAH!"

"You were the kid right?" he asked. Rex nodded. Then he smiled.

"Remember. You promised to play soccer with me when you were done!" he cried running off in another direction. Like a Salazar, he was a strange person. Or, a normal person thrown into a world of strange people.

Rex's ninth birthday.

It was supposed to be a fun day. But he was in the cross fire. He and César, they were the ones who removed him from the shooting. Rex was caked in his blood. They rushed him to the closest room. Kleiss began to remove the bullets in his chest.

"César, we're losing him," he said sadly. He kept trying to keep Rex awake. César grabbed his brother and put him in the nanite chamber.

"Are you crazy?" yelled Kleiss, "If he survives in there, he might not come out alright!"

"It's all we've got," said César turning the machine on. Lights flickered. A strained cry came from the machine.

"Rex!" yelled Kleiss. The machine turned off. Rex came out. He looked tired. His clothes still had blood all over. But his body looked as though it was healing itself rapidly.

"Success! The nanite project works!" said César happily. Rex looked at Kleiss. His eyes seemed foggy. He looked over the workshop. He seemed to be seeing something he didn't. Like he was trying to dissect the room with his eyes.

"César? What's going on?" he asked.

"There has been an attack _mijo_. People want to set off the nanite project. The one we just used on your body."

Rex's eyes went wide. He ran into the corridor. César stayed and reset up the machine in case needed. Kleiss went after him.

"Rex! It's dangerous!"

Rex stopped and turned to him. Tears were in his eyes.

"Why didn't you stop him?"

"Rex I…" 

"Now I'm just another guinea pig. Something for people to study."

"I didn't want to see you dead."

Rex looked him in the eye.

"Would I have really died?" he asked. Slowly. Kleiss nodded. Rex ran up to him and hugged him. Kleiss would never understand this kid. Rex looked at him.

"Promise me you won't let them do anything else to me?" he asked. It wasn't something he could do. But the kid's eyes…

"I'll do everything I can."

Is it so wrong that I try to keep the promise you made me keep that you can't remember? You run and hide from me. Call me insane. Call me crazy. Call me a villain. But I will always do what I can to keep the promise between me and the small smiling child with bright brown eyes. One who doesn't know what to do or where to go. But because of this promise, I might hurt you. But I'll never kill you. The day you forgot everything changed me as well. Come back to your family, not bound by blood.

**Okay. Most of you hate this. But Van Kleiss knows something. This is just some stupid crazy idea that I had in school. Review…**


	2. Chapter 2

Sitting in a room he didn't quite know. Strangers, no. They were people he knew. Well, once knew. They were smart. One was normal. He talked to himself though. He was pail skinned and he always complained. He was no fun. There was the other man. He glowed in a tank. He could never touch the man. But it fascinated him that he glowed the way he did. Then there was the darker skinned man. For one reason or another he felt funny next to. His memories blurred from being alive so long. But that was something he couldn't change. This man was called Caesar. Caesar Salazar. He never did care for the man. Too pushy. No time for play. Just work, work, work.

_He said it was for the best. That it would be worth not playing. But I don't want to work. I was invited to play a game. A game I want to play. A boy asked me to play. I want to find that boy. He smiled at me. Me. He smiled at who I was when everyone else frowned. He talked about a game. The game I remember had a ball. The ball was black and white. The rules said we didn't use our hands but we moved the ball. We moved it with our feet. It was fun!_

_He asked if we could play again sometime. I don't think we ever did play again. I just want to play with that boy again. He called me friend. _

"Van Kleiss focus!" yelled Caesar. He pouted at the man. Why did he remind him of playing games? Playing games of kicking balls. Black and white balls. A childish smile. He had a lazy smile come across his face as he fixed the program that had begun to go wrong. But outside the grey and gloomy walls he could hear the laughter of the child ringing in his ears clear as a bell.

"_No puede cogerme!" the child laughed._

"_Sí puedo," he said picking up the small child._

"_Póngame sobre la tierra!" he cried helplessly but still laughing. _

"_Ningún camino," he said tickling the boy_.

"Me gustó que el cabrito," he said to himself. Caesar stared at him.

"¿Qué?" he asked. He looked at Caesar. And for a flickering moment saw the small child behind him. But instead of laughing, he was crying. Behind Caesar he was crying. He was smeared in red. Blood?

He was also older.

"_¿Quién eres?"_ the child seemed to say with his eyes. He looked at the man in front of him. They were not the same person. But he kept them apart. His eyes narrowed at Caesar. He was like the mean person in his memories that always took the fun kid away. No time for fun. Work, work, work.

He missed the kid.

"_Yo soy Rex Salazar. Tu eres Van Kleiss. Nosotros amigos tambien?" said the same innocent voice. _

Rex. Rex. The name of a lost pet. Of a lost child. Salazar. Salazar. Caesar and Rex Salazar.

"Caesar?"

"Yes Van Kleiss?" he asked still looking at his screen.

"Where's Rex?"

Caesar looked at him baffled. As did the other two.

"He's not here," he said darkly.

"He promised. We'll play later then," he said somewhat disappointed, "Do you know when he'll be back?"

"No. Get back to work," he growled.

Caesar never did like him. But the fact that his parents didn't get along with him was only the beginning. He never did really want a brother. Rex was just there. He wasn't smart. He was accident prone. He had his own way of doing things. He didn't care for science despite how good he was in math. He liked to read books. Not research books and biographies, but things considered literature. There were no picture books lying around so he read at a higher level. He seemed drawn to emotional books. He and Rex never bonded.

But Rex and Van Kleiss did. He remembered taking notes to his parents when he saw Rex playing soccer with Van Kleiss. Of all people, the one their parents didn't get along with was the one he was playing with. Granted he never played with Rex but it hurt for some reason. Rex _always_ asked him to play. And now he was playing with a scientist like a little kid? Granted he was young but he was supposed to be more mature. He was eight for crying out loud. He began working with his parents by then.

His feet seemed to have a mind of their own when he walked out onto the soccer field with Rex being picked up by Van Kleiss. His little brother laughing in that man's arms.

"Rex. Inside. Now," he said sternly. Van Kleiss put him down and Rex looked back at him with endearing eyes.

"Can we play again some other time?" he asked excitedly and louder than Caesar knew possible for Rex. He had confidence in English. More so than Spanish. He was often quieter when talking to mom or dad in Spanish.

"Sure Rex," Van Kleiss said calmly. Rex gave a grin that seemed to fuel something in Caesar. As Rex ran inside Caesar glowered at Van Kleiss.

"Stay away from _mijo_," he growled. The older man looked down at him.

"He was bored and lonely. I'm not the kind of man who leaves a kid alone. Or break a promise," he said in a way that told Caesar that he would still interact with Rex. He felt something he couldn't describe. It was a horrid burning sensation that made him angry and possessive. He would look in on that later. He walked back inside to take the notes to his parents. And then he would try and figure out what it was.

He never did find out what it was. But the same feeling came when he overheard Rex talk about what Van Kleiss had said. He couldn't believe his brother actually believed what came from him.

He glared at Van Kleiss who was smiling at his work. Unaware he wasn't actually working, but drawing a picture of a small Latino boy playing soccer just outside of a lab. The grin on his face uncontainable.

**I added this after seeing Kleiss go crazy. Review if you want.**


	3. Chapter 3

"Why?" Breech asked. Kliess didn't say anything. He just stared out into the abyss of Breech's sancutuary, "We gave you everything. _I_ gave you everything."

Van Kliess didn't react.

"Do we mean nothing to you?" Breech cried, "Were we just your weapons?"

Again Kliess said nothing. Breech scowled at him.

"You may throw us away, but we aren't leaving that easily," she growled, vanishing before his eyes. He let his head fall to his face. His plans, his dreams, his promises all burnt to ash. Long gone was the little boy who followed him around the lab. Long gone was the little girl terrified of her grotesque beauty. And gone were the obedient little boys looking for shelter in a cruel unforgiving world. Everything he had was now lost to the wind. Having lived longer than most men had even dreamed and yet never forgetting.

A small red portal appeared by his feet. A plate with an empanada, and a slice of pizza with pineapple and salmon. He gave a terse smile before picking up the food, eating the oddity of pizza first followed by the empanada. He laid his hand on his stomach in content and nostalgia. The food, however odd, held memories of better times.

"_So you work with Mami and Papi?" the youngest Salazar asked with wide innocent brown eyes._

_"Sometimes," Van Kliess admitted. Rex tilted his head slightly._

_"So you work on the little machines?" Rex asked._

_"Yes Rex I do."_

_Rex's nose crinkled at the response._

_"Then why don't I see you working con mi familia?"_

_Van Kliess paused a moment to translate the little Spanish. Last time he didn't do that he accidentally said 'pork rinds' instead of 'behinds'. Rex mocks him to this day of that misunderstanding. 'Chichorones my butt,' he thought to himself._

_"Well Rex, Caesar and I have too different opinions on how to control the Nanites. I believe that people should monitor them as well as change programming when needing it. Your brother wants to make a Nanite that can control them all. Your mom and dad just happen to watch over both projects so I don't see them a lot."_

_"Okay."_

* * *

><p><em>"Rex?"<em>

_"Hey," he said softly curled up in a tight ball under a blanket._

_"You want to come out?"_

_Rex shook his head._

_"Too loud."_

_"What's too loud?"_

_"Everything. Can't you hear it?"_

_"I cant say I can Rex."_

_"That's okay. I couldn't hear it before either."_

_"Before what?"_

_"Before the accident."_

_Van Kliess's eyes narrowed. _

_"Rex... What do you hear?" _

_"Everything. Why is mama, papa and Caesar building for bad men?"_

_"Excuse me?"_

_"That's what the walls say. I can hear them better now."_

_"Hear them?"_

_Rex nodded._

_"I could hear them after my birthday... And Caesar gave me my shot and now... It all sounds so claro. Even though they're so far."_

_"Where are you hearing these voices Rex?" Van Kliess asked with concern._

_"The reactor," Rex admitted sheepishly._

* * *

><p>Well. Maybe not good memories but certainly nostalgic. The boy has become a man. A smile crept to his face. He helped make Rex who he was. He protected him and now he could stand on his own two feet. At least he kept one promise.<p>

He closed his eyes letting Breech's world cover him like a blanket. He drifted into a deep slumber as he was watched by a jeweled lizard, a silhouetted wolf, and a little princess.

**Well... Yeah um... Okay... Don't know why I wrote this but yeah... Please review?**


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